As NewsBusters reported, liberal Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers published a rather surprising column at the Daily Beast Sunday called "Rush Limbaugh Isn’t the Only Media Misogynist."
On Monday she appeared on Fox's America Live taking this issue even further saying, "This isn't really about misogyny...It's a proxy war for the Democratic Party: they can use it in the election for part of the war on women, and they can attack Rush Limbaugh because they hate Rush Limbaugh because he's conservative" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
MEGYN KELLY, HOST: Conservative radio star Rush Limbaugh apologizing this weekend for his offensive description of a Georgetown law student who testified before Congress on contraception. The apology was immediately touted as a badge of honor by some on the left, but now one top liberal commentator is telling her flank, “Not so fast in the celebrations.”
Kirsten Powers suggesting that some of Limbaugh’s loudest critics might want to look in the mirror. Ms. Powers is with me now. She’s a columnist with the Daily Beast and a Fox News commentator. Kirsten, welcome.
KIRSTEN POWERS: Hello Megyn.
KELLY: So this is interesting because this started about religious liberty versus contraception, and it's morphed into something very different now about whether in your piece, you raise a question about whether there's a double standard when it comes to calling out conservatives who say the wrong things, offensive things, and liberals who do the same.
POWERS: Yeah, and I said in my column I think what Rush Limbaugh said was extremely egregious. It's something that I think he deserves the outpouring of anger about, that the boycott, everything, I support all that, but at the same time, if you're going to get so upset about him using this term, which I'm not going to use on television.
KELLY: It’s the S-word. It starts with “S-L” and ends with “T”. Let’s leave it at that.
POWERS: Yes, thank you .You know, then you have to get upset when somebody like Bill Maher, who is a major donor to President Obama’s Super PAC, he gave them a million dollars, and someone who liberals go on his show all the time. Top liberals go on. I mean, Jennifer Granholm was just on his show. Russ Feingold was just on his show. So, if you have all these liberals coming out and now saying Rush Limbaugh needs to be taken off the air for saying stuff like this, then I don’t, it doesn't make sense that somebody like Bill Maher is able to not only stay on but to have all these like top Democrats and top liberals come on like nothing’s going on, it's no problem.
KELLY: You called him the Grand Poobah of media misogyny, and the examples you list in your piece are really epic. I mean, he called Sarah Palin a dumb “T-W” blank “T.” He called her the C-word.
POWERS: Yes.
KELLY: He called Sarah Palin and Congresswoman Bachmann boobs and two bimbos, and on and on it goes, and I thought it was interesting because you point out how none other than Gloria Steinem goes on his show and doesn't confront him about it, but who did?
POWERS: Ann Coulter, the big feminist, Ann Coulter. So I think the thing is that it's hard to even repeat the things that he says on television, right, because they're so outrageous. And what's been particularly upsetting to me, Megyn, has been the response that I've gotten to this article, which is, “Oh, it's so different, it's okay to call Sarah Palin all those words because she is a public person, but this other woman who was in front of the hearing on the contraception, well, she's a private person.” It's like, “Oh, I'm sorry, it's okay to call somebody the C-word if they're a public person?” When did that happen? You know, like oh, people start calling Nancy Pelosi that, everyone would go, “Oh, she's a public person, oh well?”
You know, it's not okay, and Bill Maher has attacked a woman who was a private citizen, who was involved in a case because she was breast feeding and she was sort of harassed about it, and he said all sorts of horrible things about this woman, and she’s a private woman.
KELLY: He’s come out and said, “Well, it’s different because I don’t have sponsors.” But a lot of the men you list in your article as some of the worst offenders do have sponsors and they do seem to get a pass when they say things that are not just offensive but, you know, hurtful. There's like a presumption that some of these women don't have feelings from Sandra Fluke on down, including Sarah Palin. She runs around, she doesn't have feelings, and you went through Ed Schultz, who called Sarah Palin a bimbo and called Laura Ingraham a right-wing “S-L,” same thing, same term, you know, “S-L” you know what. Now he later was forced to apologize but is he being boycotted? Keith Olbermann, you talk about some of the things he has said, Kirsten
POWERS: Yeah, well, no, and that's the point. And the other thing is, “Oh well, he apologized so it's okay.” My response to that is really? If somebody dropped the N-word, could they just apologize and get out of it? I don't understand why these very specific, gender-specific attacks on women are okay. It's fine to attack on a woman, look, you know, we're grownups. Go ahead and call us stupid or whatever you want, but the point is, why do they have to choose these very gender-specific names that they know are particularly nasty towards women?
KELLY: On the Olbermann front, he said S.E. Cupp should have been aborted by her parents. He said Michelle Malkin is a mashed up bag of meat with lipstick. And where was the outrage, Kirsten? I mean, why, why, why do they get away with it when somebody like Rush does not?
You know, so, look, they overlook it because they're liberals and liberal men are allowed to be misogynists apparently. I don’t know.
KELLY: You don’t think they’re genuinely offended then. They’re not genuinely offended by Rush and they're not offended when they hear Bill Maher say these things, but they see an opportunity when a conservative does it.
POWERS: Yeah, they see an opportunity. It’s not that they’re not offended. I do think they actually find it offensive. I can't imagine how you would read most of this stuff to somebody and they would say it’s not offensive. My point in the article was, “Okay, if you’re offended, then do something about it.” You can't only do it when it's a conservative. You can't just sit there quietly while Chris Matthews does real serious damage to Hillary Clinton, the first woman presidential candidate who has a chance of winning an election, is just denigrated and torn apart in the most vicious, sexist terms by him, over and over, and then he kind of gives this lame apology, like seven months later, eight months later, after he's already done all the damage and turns around and starts doing it all over again.
You know, so the point is, if you're really upset about, do something about it. And for Bill Maher, okay, he doesn't have sponsors. Just don't go on his show. It's very simple. If it's so horrible to call somebody an s-l-u-t, then it's got to be bad to call them the C-word, right Megyn? I mean, does that make sense?
KELLY: I have to say, on Bill Maher's show, he had a less than kind word for me at one point and Jane Harman, a Democrat, was sitting there, put him in his place. Gloria Steinem sitting on the couch, not so much. I think that's very interesting, Kirsten. Thank you so much for coming on with your insights.
Indeed, thank you Kirsten for having the guts to stand up and point out this preposterous double standard.
The reality is that Limbaugh has now apologized twice. But the liberal media have no intention of letting this issue drop because they think it's a winner for them in November.
Beyond this, whatever can be kept in the limelight that has nothing to do with soaring gas prices, stubbornly high unemployment, staggering budget deficits, and another war looming in the Middle East helps President Obama and his Party.
That's why despite the honesty from Powers and the Washington Post's Tumulty, this matter is not likely to go away anytime soon.
Regardless, brava once again, Kirsten! Brava!
(H/T Mediaite)
